Sight Unseen

[dbirchett]

I bought both my Larrys from unclrob unseen and unplayed, a pretty good leap of faith. I had seen pictures of them and I was satisfied that I had created some rapport with him. Especially after the first, I developed a lot of trust in Rob's judgement. I also enlisted Koamon who checked out the Koa (what else) and pronounced judgement on them. I also had a trial period (I think) so I was fairly confident but it was not exactly a blind leap.

[-CM-]

I ordered 5 different Larrivees via the Internet: 4 from Guitar Adoptions and one from Music Alley Inc. in Alabama. I will never do so again, despite the fact that the Larrivees are among my favorites of my 11 acoustic guitars. Three of the guitars were flawed underneath the gloss finish. Search for my posts from a long time ago and you can see pics. One guitar came with a case that held the neck at an angle, causing the headstock to rest against the side of the case.

In each circumstance, the flaws are fairly obvious, and should have been detected by the dealers before shipping, so I will never buy from these dealers again.

To Larrivee's credit, they always went the extra mile trying to make things right. They even built another guitar for me. Alas, it was flawed, but they took a good chunk of cash off the price, so I kept it. They all sound an play wonderfully, I should add.

If I were in the market for another Larrivee, I would order online again, but I would make absolutely sure the dealer checked the guitar out completely before shipping it to me, and I would of course expect an adequate trial period.

[HangFire]

I bought all of my Larrivees online, sight unseen (except by pics) and never had one problem.  Sure I'd do it again, either through dealers or someone from this forum! ;)  

[Johnny M]

Being in Japan, I don't really have much choice other than to order online unless I want to pay what is listed on the Larrivee site ... and that's if they can order it from Larrivee.  Buying from Dave @G.A. was a real pleasure and even with the international shipping, it was hundreds of dollars cheaper than if I ordered it/bought it here in Japan.  

Yes, it was a leap of faith, but after reading all the positive feedback from forum members here, I felt comfortable about ordering online, unseen and unheard.  I'm glad I did because I now have a great sounding L-03R.

With that said, I'm now gassing for a 12 string ...

John in Japan

[2LeftFeet]

Me too!

I bought my Larry parlour (RW b+s) from the other side of the pond, thanks to Jason at Notable.  I had gone into London and played a mahogany parlour, just to get the Larrivee feel.  Jason was kind enough to play the guitar down the phone to me before I bought it, but it was still sight unseen.

That was nowhere near as scary as my first sight unseen purchase - a Maton EBG808, all the way from Australia when I'd heard them (thanks to Tommy Emmanuel), but never actually played one.  I got really nervous once I'd ordered it, but it was a true fairy tale, and we've lived happily ever after.  

The forums are very useful in this sort of situation as you can get confidence that the company is well thought of and has a good reputation (certainly applies to Larrivee).  From my point of view, it's a scarily exciting thing to do which also saves me $$$$ compared to European prices.

Unfortunately, buying more guitars does not diminish the GAS attacks  :D

2LF  

[mazareth]

I also bought both of my Larrivees sight/sound unseen. While talking with my brother (also a guitarist) on the phone last night I was idly strumming my D-03R. Even over the phone he thought it sounded great...

[egordon99]

I bought my OM03R sight unseen (and unheard) from FQMS. Would I do it for a more expensive guitar? Probably not, but at ~$700, I figured what the heck!

[jmhyer]

I kinda thought these would be the kinds of responses I would get from this thread.  Through all of the stories related here so far, it seems there are several take-home points for those who are considering a sight-unseen purchase.  I will try to summarize them as follows:

1)  Larrivée makes a great product and the guitar-to-guitar consistency is very high.  "Lemons" or "clunkers" are almost unheard-of.  Furthermore, their customer service is very highly-regarded.  It sounds as though it's not uncommon for the company to address issues that you might not otherwise expect a company to deal with (including cosmetic and/or finish issues).

2)  This forum (read "family") of Larrivée owners/enthusiasts is a wonderful and reliable source of information and encouragement for those who are considering such a purchase.

3)  The risk of such a purchase is minimized if it is made through a reputable/respected dealer who offers a trial period for returns/refunds.  Check with buyers who have used the dealer, if possible.


Therefore, for anyone out there who desires a high-quality, all-solid-wood acoustic guitar but have limited options at your local dealers (especially for the $$$), an unseen and unheard purchase of a Larrivée is certainly worth considering.

Thanks for the responses everyone.   :D